‘Evil Dead’ remake slapped with an NC-17 rating

Movie Talk

Yahoo! MoviesJanuary 29, 2013

Photo courtesy of SXSW

That chain saw you hear? It’s but a grace note in the symphony of gore that is the trailer for Fede Alvarez’s “Evil Dead” remake, due to splatter across screens April 12. The film confidently bills itself as “the most terrifying film you will ever experience;” whether that’s true or not, the MPAA is making sure you’ll experience less of it.

As SlashFilm noticed, Alvarez took to Twitter yesterday to inform his fans that he “[w]as proud of scoring a NC17 (sic) when submitted! But we had to cut stuff out to get an R and get the film into theaters.”

Given that the trailer features one of the film’s unfortunate protagonists vomiting buckets of blood on her nonplussed compatriots, enough severed limbs to compile a boxed set, a tongue being sliced neatly down the middle, and at least once incident with a chain saw, it’s somewhat unsurprising that the MPAA is giving “Evil Dead” the attention it usually reserves for films featuring naked penises and depictions of human pleasure.

That said, fans should probably not be worried. Alvarez, after all, was handpicked to direct by the original film’s writer and director, Sam Raimi, who also produced and co-wrote the remake. Between the two of them, the film’s gore is in able, artful hands; even after they finish trimming, ““Evil Dead” will still be plenty evil. The MPAA is no match for dormant demons, or, for that matter, the inevitable Blu-Ray release of the original version in all its uncut and unhinged glory.